What's your favorite London museum...and why?
Mar 31st, 2005, 01:41 PM
#22
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What a great thread! Has anyone here been to Handel House? I'm looking forward to going there in May. Not quite the same as a huge museum, but I like going to places like Keats House where great works of art were composed or inspired. 
Mar 31st, 2005, 02:06 PM
#23
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I agree about the Tate British. I walked around for 2 hours with my mouth agape at all the Turners. Even the National Gallery has a small sample (although they have my favorite: "Rain, Steam, and Speed"
. It's free and not nearly as crowded as the other biggies.
. It's free and not nearly as crowded as the other biggies.
Mar 31st, 2005, 02:40 PM
#24
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My favorite museum in London is The Museum of London. I really like all the wonderful displays of London life from its founding to the present. Since I would love to have grown up in that city, seeing those examples of the years of my lifetime almost makes me feel as though I'd lived through them, even the bad years such as WW II.
Mar 31st, 2005, 04:18 PM
#26
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Another vote for the house/ museum of Sir John Soane -- my favourite architect.
It is exquisite and madly eccentric; I would move in tomorrow if I could.
And it is the place where the guilty lovers are discovered in What Maisie Knew, by Henry James, my favourite author.
It is exquisite and madly eccentric; I would move in tomorrow if I could.
And it is the place where the guilty lovers are discovered in What Maisie Knew, by Henry James, my favourite author.
Mar 31st, 2005, 07:45 PM
#28
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<i>"Has anyone here been to Handel House?"</i>
We visited Handel House Museum (<b>http://www.handelhouse.org</b
soon after it opened. At the time the house didn't have many furnishings - don't know if that's changed or not. But it was an interesting tour, especially if you're a Handel fan. It was kind of cool being in the same house where he composed the Messiah, Zadock the Priest and Music for Fireworks. And Jimi Hendrix lived just next door - but a few years later.
We visited Handel House Museum (<b>http://www.handelhouse.org</b
soon after it opened. At the time the house didn't have many furnishings - don't know if that's changed or not. But it was an interesting tour, especially if you're a Handel fan. It was kind of cool being in the same house where he composed the Messiah, Zadock the Priest and Music for Fireworks. And Jimi Hendrix lived just next door - but a few years later.
Mar 31st, 2005, 10:30 PM
#29
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I could easily spend a weekend in the British Museum, especially interesting when you have visited some of the places where the antiquities originated.
If I had any time left, I'd visit the V&A, where I'm particularly interested in anything to do with William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites. Then there is the Natural History museum, which as well as having some fascinating displays, is a beautiful building.
This reminds me, I must plan a long weekend in London...
If I had any time left, I'd visit the V&A, where I'm particularly interested in anything to do with William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites. Then there is the Natural History museum, which as well as having some fascinating displays, is a beautiful building.
This reminds me, I must plan a long weekend in London...
Apr 1st, 2005, 12:16 AM
#30
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My son's favorite was the British Museum. He seemed to really like the Egyptian statuary.
I liked the National Gallery, in fact went back when I had a few free hours.
We also enjoyed a visit to the British Library. It's a beautiful building and has a really interesting collection.
I liked the National Gallery, in fact went back when I had a few free hours.
We also enjoyed a visit to the British Library. It's a beautiful building and has a really interesting collection.
Apr 1st, 2005, 12:50 AM
#31
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The film of liberation of a camp was at Belsen, I think. In the film they clear the bodies with earth-moving shovels. It was British troops who freed Belsen, and I have read that grizzled sergeants who had fought from El Alamein to Sicily and from Normandy to the Rhine stepped aside from their walk for a moment to weep, or vomit.
There is a kind of alternative to the gigantism of all those rich Egyptians and Greeks in the British Museum, if you go upstairs to the gold hoards of the Roman British rooms, and the ship burial of an Anglo Saxon prince in eastern England.
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There is a kind of alternative to the gigantism of all those rich Egyptians and Greeks in the British Museum, if you go upstairs to the gold hoards of the Roman British rooms, and the ship burial of an Anglo Saxon prince in eastern England.
[email protected]
Apr 1st, 2005, 05:08 AM
#32
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Right you are, Ben Haines - as always. I found that film the single most affecting thing I have ever read/seen about the Nazi atrocity.
I can see I have more research still ahead (and here, I thought I'd narrowed things down!) - including the Geffrye and Sir John Soanes.
Nigello - Have a shufty??? That's a new one on me....?
I can see I have more research still ahead (and here, I thought I'd narrowed things down!) - including the Geffrye and Sir John Soanes.
Nigello - Have a shufty??? That's a new one on me....?
Apr 1st, 2005, 02:13 PM
#34
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The National Gallery is great because it is a reasonable size and will give you a mini history of England in portraits.
The V&A is great if you love the decorative arts.
The Tate Britain is my favorite and currently has the Turner-Whistler-Monet exibit through May 15th.
Also, the British Library is at the top of my recommendations because it houses the original manuscripts of many classics.
The V&A is great if you love the decorative arts.
The Tate Britain is my favorite and currently has the Turner-Whistler-Monet exibit through May 15th.
Also, the British Library is at the top of my recommendations because it houses the original manuscripts of many classics.
Apr 1st, 2005, 06:01 PM
#37
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Only janis has said anything about the London Transport Museum, but please allow a techno-wonk to add his twopence worth.
There are dozens of exhibits, ranging from the interesting (signals, all sorts of historic rolling stock) to the absolutely boring (standing inside a mockup subway tunnel a few feet from the Greathead Shield that actually bored it).
Well worth an afternoon.
ltmuseum.co.uk
There are dozens of exhibits, ranging from the interesting (signals, all sorts of historic rolling stock) to the absolutely boring (standing inside a mockup subway tunnel a few feet from the Greathead Shield that actually bored it).
Well worth an afternoon.
ltmuseum.co.uk
